The Oranjeboom was originally a privately owned ship outfitted for the slave trade. It was a so-called *lorredraaier*—an illegal trader attempting to bypass the monopoly of the West India Company (WIC). Eventually, the ship was seized by the WIC.

In the service of the WIC
On its final voyage, the ship took 488 enslaved people on board at the slave depot of Ardra (Benin) and departed for Suriname on December 21, 1682. 419 survived the journey and were sold there for 13,500 lbs of sugar.¹

Subsequently, the ship sank in the Suriname River, possibly during a storm.²
Upon returning to the Netherlands, Captain Pijl submitted a request for payment of his wages for the voyage from Ardra* to Suriname.

*) Little Ardra, or Offra, was a major slave depot in the Bight of Benin—the so-called Slave Coast. The WIC trading post at Offra was established around 1660. According to a report from 1670, the Dutch transported approximately 2,500 to 3,000 enslaved people from Offra annually.³

• slavevoyages.org
  Oranjeboom
• archief WIC